Paisley holds a special place in the hearts of lawyers due to the famous case of Donoghue versus Stevenson, which set out the principle of the law of negligence.

In April 1929 Mary Donoghue brought a a claim for damages against David Stevenson after she had found a snail in a bottle of ginger beer manufactured by him.

Mrs Donoghue had gone to the Wellmeadow Cafe in Paisley’s West-End with a friend, who purchased the ginger beer for Mrs Donoghue.

After drinking some of the ginger beer Mrs Donoghue topped up her glass with what remained, and was horrified when a stinking, decomposing snail fell into her glass from the bottle.

Location of the original cafe at the corner of Well Street and Lady Lane.

As Mrs Donoghue had not actually bought the drink herself she had no direct claim against Mr Stevenson. However she sought damages form Stevenson for the resulting nervous shock and gastroenteritis which she claimed was caused through the incident.

Before the case could go to trial it had to be determined whether Mrs Donoghue could actually bring an action under the circumstances. The original judgement was that she could bring an action but this was overturned by the Court of Appeal and the case found its way to the House of Lords for them to decide if a duty of care existed.

By a majority of three - two the Law Lords agreed that Mrs Donoghue was owed a duty of care under the “neighbour principle” and that she could bring an action against Stevenson.

However in a twist of fate, Stevenson died before the case could be brought before the court and his executors settled out of court for a sum of £200.

But the precedent had been set - it was illegal to act in such a waythat it could reasonably be forseen that such an action could lead to another being directly harmed.

On the 80th anniversary of the historic decision by the Law Lords, the newly laid plinth was formally unveiled by Ellen Farmer of the Old Paisley Society - surrounded by lawyers from around the world who were attending an 80th anniversary conference honouring the Paisley Snail which was organized by UWS.